Not the West End

The thing I love about school holidays the most is being able to act like a normal human being.  I can go out on a school night because even though the next morning I'm a bit tired and grumpy I can still write reports, or plan next term, or practise piano parts, or arrange music and don't have to worry about having enough energy and enthusiasm to keep 30 reluctant fledgling musicians entertained enough to think that what I'm asking them to do might actually be fun.  Also, I can go out on a school night because I haven't fallen asleep on the sofa at 9pm, missing the end of a three part whodunnit.

This holiday I have been to the theatre twice.  Twice.  Did you hear that?  TWICE.  I haven't won the lottery, either and so it's time to sing the praises of the small theatres.  

At small theatres you see actors who are properly trained in their craft.  They don't have the lead role because they've been in a soap opera or lucked out on a reality TV show.  They are there because they can do their job.  They can act and make you believe everything they are saying.  You might get to see something new, interesting and exciting, that just isn't ready for the big stage yet (but might be the next big thing).  You get to see actors, musicians and singers that are just beginning to learn their trade.  They have the talent and thankfully are being given the opportunity to develop.  You get a much more intimate experience and you don't have to take out a mortgage to be in the front row. 

The two shows I saw were both musical theatre and couldn't have been more different and similar at the same time.  First, I saw The Hired Man at Colchester's Mercury Theatre and for a £10 ticket I got to sit in the front row.  I was so close that one of the characters spit landed just under my eye every time he sang (it's all part of the experience).  The Hired Man is based on Melvyn Bragg's 1969 book and is a historical account of farm and mine workers in Cumbria, prior and during the first world war.  The story was bleak and sad and the writing seemed a little old fashioned and stilted.  The music was written by Howard Goodall.  I'm a fan of his because he not only writes beautifully blended choral parts with complicated and interesting musical accompaniments  was the school Singing Ambassador from 2007 - 2011, made a fabulous TV show  called the story of music http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b01qgd00 but he writes brilliantly funny and irreverent lyrics.

Theme tune with lyrics

The music for The Hired Man was stunning.  It was performed by actor musicians who played their instruments as part of the show and sang with the most amazing voices.  The cast were brilliant and checking my programme I wasn't surprised to find that they had trained at places like RADA, Northern College of Music, Mountview and LIPA.  The three main characters were bought to life by David Hunter (who my daughter loves because he is the lead singer of a band called Reemer - that I've never heard of) , Kit Orton (who we saw in Spamalot) and Julie Atherton (who we saw in Avenue Q) and although I hate a love triangle as a story (old and boring) I actually wanted them to all live together and just be happy.  It was quite a slow first half but the emotion in the second half is still with me now.  Julie Atherton's performance broke my heart, as she sobbed and then died. I'm really not doing it justice here but trust me, it's the best acting I think I've ever seen. The show got a standing ovation and a very happy man in the front row insisted on shaking hands with one of the actors, although, being at the side front we heard one actor say to another as they left the stage, "It's OK, it's his Dad."  The strategic placement of a proud parent can only enhance a performance in my opinion.

The Hired Man

Last night I went, with my daughter, to see  The Streets Project at the Cockpit Theatre in Marylebone, where a £15 ticket allowed us to sit wherever we wanted.  This tiny theatre, set in a round unfortunately has the most uncomfortable seats known to man or beast but this was a different production to the The Hired Man.  This was new, exciting, fresh work, giving young actors, writers, musicians a chance.  We first heard about it because a friend is the Musical Director.  Kris Rawlinson may still only be in the first year of his degree but we always knew he was going to do amazing things and it was great to see him get this opportunity.  I could gush on about Kris for a bit longer but he'll only get a big head if he reads this so I wont.  Streets is a new musical with music written by Finn Anderson and produced by Adam Boland and has been put together by Interval productions (a group set up by Tori Allen-Martin, who wrote the show. read more here).  The story is set a week before the London Riots, and just like The Hired Man was bleak, intense and sad.  The worrying thing for me was that the sense of hopelessness for the young people in this story was fairly similar to those in 1898 in Melvyn Bragg's story.  Even though I was the only person in audience unaccountably drawn to beige, I did get the Dawson's Creek joke (despite my daughter pointed out it wouldn't have gone down so well with an audience of a different demographic) and I also liked the use of rap with the music. My age did give me away when the actress playing Brook stripped to her bra and knickers (£6 the set from Primark) and all I could think was, 'you'll catch your death of cold.'  There is much to recommend this show and I would love to see it developed into something that had an even wider audience appeal.  I personally, would have liked the songs and even the dances to be more integrated into the story.  I have definitely spotted some actors to watch in the future though, particularly, Brandon Henry, James Kenward and Alexandra Da Silva.  

This week I heard that Mac Theatre won't be putting on their community Shakespeare in the Park this year and although I don't know the full reasons I suspect it is to do with funding and this makes me very sad.  All the actors I have seen this week will have developed their love of their art by performing in local shows under the direction of professional actors.